Gneisenau was a World War II Scharnhorst class capital ship, referred to as either a light battleship or battlecruiser of the German Kriegsmarine. This 31,100-ton ship was the third to carry the name of the Prussian general August von Gneisenau, after the three-masted iron-hulled frigate SMS Gneisenau, which was launched in 1879 and wrecked in 1900; and the World War I armored cruiser SMS Gneisenau, destroyed in the battle of the Falkland Islands in 1914. She usually sailed into battle accompanied by her sister ship Scharnhorst.


Displacement: 31,500 tonnes (standard) 38,900 tonnes (full load)
Length: 235 m (772 ft) overall
226 m (741.5 ft) waterline
Beam: 30 m (98.4 ft)
Draft: 9.69 m (31 ft 9 in.) at 37,303 tons
Propulsion: 3 Germania geared turbines with single reduction
3 three-bladed propellers, 4.8 m (159 inch) diameter
151,893 shp
Speed: 33 kt
Range: 8,400 nm at 19 kt
Complement: 1,669 (56 officers, 1,613 enlisted)
Armament: 9 × 28 cm/54.5 (11") SK C/34[2]
12 × 15 cm/55 (5.9") SK C/28[3]
14 × 10.5 cm/65 (4.1") SK C/33[4]
16 × 3.7 cm/L83 (1.5") SK C/30[5]
10 (later 16) × 2 cm/65 (0.79") C/30 or C/38[6]
6 × 533 mm torpedo tubes
Armor: Main belt: 350 mm (13.78 inch)
Deck: 95 mm max.
Aircraft carried: 3 Arado Ar 196A-3, 1 catapult